Foos on Leno

Set your Tivos for this Friday, September 1st, as the Foos take the Leno stage to perform. Odds are good that they'll play "Miracle", but you really won't know unless you tune in, will you?

Dylan Apple ad

Bob Dylan stars in a new ad for iPod/iTunes - you can check it out here. I never thought I'd see him in an ad like this, but after he starred in a Victoria's Secret commercial a few years back, there isn't much that'll shock me nowadays.

Also, Dylan's new album is out today. Be sure to check it out - Rolling Stone gave it 5 stars, for Pete's sake!

Foo Fighters TINLTL Documentary

If you haven't seen this before (and you probably haven't) here's a nice little 10 minute documentary on the making of the Foo Fighters' second album, There is Nothing Left To Lose. It gives some cool insights to several of the songs on the album, as well as some studio hijinks. Enjoy, and happy Tuesday to you all.

The Fearless Freaks at the Fair

I had the pleasure of attending The Flaming Lips show at the MN State Fair last evening. My friends and I battled our way through torrential downpours (and a round of Fudge Puppies) to witness this rock spectacle at the Grandstand. As always, they did not disappoint. From huge confetti cannons and streamer pistols, to Wayne's venture out into the crowd inside his "Space Bubble", the show was full of non-stop entertainment. And the songs eminating from the speakers weren't too shabby either. Here's the setlist:


The Race for the Prize
Free Radicals
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1
Yoshimi Pt. 2
Vein of Stars
The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
The W.A.N.D.
My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion
She Don't Use Jelly
Do you Realize?
Encore - War Pigs

Here's today's review from the Strib:

Rain doesn't extinguish Flaming opening

Review: The Flaming Lips put on a hot show even as the weather doused the State Fair grandstand.

Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune

It was no coincidence that the first song played at the Minnesota State Fair's opening grandstand concert Thursday night was Sonic Youth's "Teenage Riot," with the opening line, "Everybody's talking about the stormy weather."

As if the show didn't promise to be wild enough, what with Oklahoma's radical Flaming Lips as headliners, Mother Nature kicked up a wallop of a storm just before show time. The opening band, the Magic Numbers, had to blow off its set because its gear got soaked, although the Lips brought the group out for a couple of songs later. Otherwise, the show went on as planned before nearly 8,000 poncho-clad fans.

"You came!" was Sonic Youth singer-guitarist Thurston Moore's greeting to the crowd. "We were told you weren't going to show up."

A band that sometimes doesn't play full force, Moore's team put on a powerful, if abbreviated, set. After "Teenage Riot," the New York art-punks launched into two songs on their new CD, "Rather Ripped," and mostly stuck to the album from there, with only one more oldie, "Eric's Trip."

The weather made things especially difficult for the Flaming Lips, whose elaborate stage show (video screen, confetti shooters, etc.) had to be hastily assembled after Sonic Youth. Lips frontman Wayne Coyne apologized for not going on until about 10:20 p.m., but the wait certainly paid off with an eye-candy freak show complete with psychedelic movies, costume-wearing dancers and streamer guns whose leftovers probably still will be hanging around for Rascal Flatts' big grandstand show Saturday.

"This show looked like it wasn't going to happen two or three different times," he said, praising "the union guys who made it work."

For his part, Coyne worked it, rolling out over the crowd in his inflated Space Bubble before the opening tune, "Race for the Prize," and emphatically urging the crowd to sing during "Free Radicals" and "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots."Nature or the universe conspired against us," he said about the weather, "but [expletive] them."

Well put.

Rocktober!

Just saw this on the Tour Dates section of Bob Dylan's website:

Date City Venue Time Opening Band

Sun

10/29

St. Paul

Xcel Energy Center

7:30PM

Foo Fighters (Acoustic)

Phenomenal news! You can count me in for sure!

The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handle

Here are some excerpts from Bob Dylan's Rolling Stone cover story that should be appearing on newsstands soon. Be sure to pick up his new album, Modern Times, next Tuesday (it's quite good). Also, if you have never seen No Direction Home, I order you to go see it as soon as possible. Borrow it from me if you need to. And if you have seen it, go see it again. It's one of those movies that will give you the tingles.

Catch me if I get too high

Here's a nice little rendition of "Next Year" on Letterman a few years back. Multi-instrumentalism to the MAX!

She's always changin' the color of her hair

Be prepared to be amazed at the opening of the Minnesota State Fair this Thursday as The Flaming Lips take the Grandstand stage. Opening support acts include indie noise-rock legends Sonic Youth and The Magic numbers. Tickets are still available (I hope) and an absolute steal at $28.

Vist this link to check out the writeup that was in the Strib yesterday.

Emptiness is lonliness and lonliness is emptiness

From mtv.com:

"The Smashing Pumpkins have entered a recording studio with producer Roy Thomas Baker, according to a post on the band's Web site. Baker produced Queen's A Night at the Opera, which included their classic "Bohemian Rhapsody," and also has the Cars, Journey and Cheap Trick on his lengthy résumé. The band announced in April that it had reunited, though Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin are the only members who have been confirmed for the comeback so far."

I'm glad to see these guys come back into the game. In my opinion, they made some very intriguing rock n' roll records in the 90's and 2000's. Let's hope they can do it again in the age of the Jessicas, Britneys, Pariseseses, etc..

I think I'm goin' to Kalifornia

Scott Bondy (Verbena guitarist/lead singer) apparently has a new solo album in the can that will be released later this year. Here's one of the tracks that is supposed to appear on the new record. Stay tuned to Superphonic Records for more info.

Also, the following info has been posted to the RCA Records new releases section:

Nov. 7 - Foo Fighters - Unplugged (CD + DVD)

Very interesting news. Hopefully this release will give us the chance to experience the awesome performances that the extended Foo orchestra has been putting on during their recent acoustic tour.

On a related note, set your Tivos for September 1st as the Foo Fighters take The Tonight Show with Jay Leno stage.

New Release Tuesday

One big release on the horizon for tomorrow - the debut album from The Panic Channel (which is the musical force behind Jane's Addiction's last album + a new singer). I've heard some good things about this one - lots of comparisons to the hookiness of the Foo Fighters. Pick it up at Best Buy tomorrow and get an exclusive track available for download.

Happy days are here again...

There's a fantastic new interview with Frank Black over at rollingstone.com - check it out here.









If you're in the area, swing on out to the Carver County Fair. I'll probably bring my daughter out there on Saturday or Sunday to pet the piggies.

I rediscovered Guided By Voices on the way into work today. They are a fantastic band with a buttload of releases. Their live shows are legendary - they start out with a cooler full of beer, and by the end of the night, the cooler is empty (along with assorted bottles of brown booze). The refreshments they ingest throughout the night do not affect their ability to churn out one perfectly crafted pop song after another. Over the next few weeks, I plan to expand my GBV library, and expect some mini-reviews of some of the gems from their catalog in the near future.

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny Trailer

Feast your eyes on the power of the D...

The Pick Of Destiny

From mtv.com:

As one-half of the self-proclaimed greatest band of all time, Kyle Gass would seem to be — at the very least — equal to one-quarter of the greatest real-life band. And an interview with Paul McCartney would be a really big deal!

So imagine our excitement when we got to talk to the Tenacious D singer/guitarist and got a sneak peek of their epic November film, "Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny." (Check out the exclusive trailer right here.) True, the man that Jack Black affectionately calls KG may not be as famous as the Beatles legend, but -- as loyal fans of the D have known for years -- he's a hell of a lot funnier.

MTV: You guys finished shooting "The Pick of Destiny" a little while back, so what's going on with the flick right now?

Gass: The movie is totally shot. We're just doing some final tweaking. We're working on the score right now, getting lots of fun sound cues in there.

MTV: Give us a quick breakdown of this epic.

Gass: The plot is about how Tenacious D came to be, and then how we go on a quest to find the Pick of Destiny, which is a guitar pick that has been handed down since ancient times and gives its user special powers to rock.

MTV: Have you guys received any assurances from your good friend Satan in regards to the release?

Gass: Satan is a tough customer, but he wants to make sure that he has a good fourth quarter, so he wanted us to open around Christmas. He wants to go right up against Christ.

MTV: What was your favorite scene to shoot?

Gass: I really enjoyed shooting the scene where Jack and I stop into a diner along the way, and we bump into this mysterious stranger played by Tim Robbins. He's this crazy old Russian guy, and it turns out that for some reason he knows exactly what we're trying to find and he actually tried to find it, himself. It plays out really fun, and Amy Poehler's in that scene as well.

MTV: You guys have tons of cameos in this thing!

Gass: I think we have the best cameos in all of movie-dom. We've got Ben Stiller, we've got Tim Robbins, we've got John C. Reilly. It helps if you have at least been nominated for an Oscar to be in a cameo.

MTV: And, no doubt, all the cameos will be nominated for more Oscars after the movie comes out.

Gass: We're hoping, you know? All I'm saying is, if "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" can win [an Oscar for] best song, I think we're in the running. That's all I've got to say.

MTV: And you guys also got your hard-rocking idol, Ronnie James Dio, into the movie.

Gass: We got Dio! We got Meat Loaf. And then we've got Dave Grohl playing the devil. He sings and he rocks. I'm just saying it right now: It's going to be a classic motion picture.

MTV: When all is said and done, where will "Pick of Destiny" fit in the grand scheme of cinema history?

Gass: I think it's gonna fit somewhere between "Spinal Tap" and "Ben-Hur."

MTV: Would you call the movie a rock opera?

Gass: It has elements of a rock opera, but it's also close to just being a rock musical. I mean, people don't just break into song, but there are rocking songs throughout.

MTV: Could this have a future like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"? Do you expect people to dress up, go to midnight screenings and sing along for decades to come?

Gass: It will forever exist in some place, somewhere at midnight, I predict. If you're a fan of the D, you're gonna love it. If you're not — I don't know what's wrong with you and I don't care, quite frankly.

MTV: Can we assume that "Pick of Destiny" will be accompanied by a soundtrack of all-new songs?

Gass: Yeah, it's all coming out at the same time. The record soundtrack comes out November 15. The movie comes out November 17, and then we'll leave on tour, like on the 18th.

MTV: And what kinds of songs can we anticipate from this movie? New stuff?

Gass: All new stuff. I think we have a couple left over [from earlier sessions], but mainly it's all new. The Tenacious D sound is just a continuation of crazy rocking with some crazy, fun lyrics that the peeps can sing along with and say, "My God, these guys are talented."

MTV: What are the titles of these crazy-rocking new ditties?

Gass: One of the songs is called "The Government Totally Sucks." Let's see, there's also "Classico Jam." A lot of them are so new, they don't even have names.

MTV: Jack has become a big-time movie star since his career with the D began. What kind of performance will we be seeing from him?

Gass: Jack is gonna give his finest performance since "Nacho Libre."

MTV: Since you're playing yourself, what kinds of things did you do to discover your inner Kyle Gass?

Gass: I had to go deep, man. We go back to the early days of our relationship, where I was the dominant one; I was the one on top. I was the one showin' Jack the ropes.

MTV: Really?

Gass: There's kind of a little "Karate Kid" thing we've got going on, where I have to show him how to rock. He's naive, wet behind the ears. And then as the movie progresses, all of a sudden, it's like today — I'm just chopped liver, falling behind Jack, trying to pick up his spare change.

MTV: In these flashbacks, are you wearing a full head of hair?

Gass: You know what, that is a whole part of the movie. Yes, there is a time when I have hair. It's pretty funny. I have long, glorious locks.

MTV: For months now, you guys have been running the best movie Web site out there [TenaciousDMovie.com].

Gass: Oh, you like "The Hell O'Clock News"?

MTV: Yeah, but there was one episode where you and Jack did the whole interview with a statue's privates behind you. Did I hear correctly that the Motion Picture Association of America made you guys take it down?

Gass: Yeah. I don't know what's wrong with people today. There's too much censorship. There's no one who is more positive than Tenacious D. Everybody's gotta relax.

MTV: But the movie is going to give us plenty of nudity.

Gass: The movie is just obscene. It's crazy dirty.

MTV: Finally, tell us about the one scene that you just cannot wait to unleash on the entire world.

Gass: How we come up with our name, Tenacious D. It's classic. It'll go down in cinema history.

MTV: Is it the true story?

Gass: Of course. Everything in it is true.

MTV: So, "Pick of Destiny" might qualify for the Best Documentary Oscar, then?

Gass: Yes. It is a docudrama. Everything happens precisely as it really did.

The Life Aquatic

Looking for a good movie to rent this weekend? I highly suggest The Life Aquatic. This Wes Anderson film stars Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and a host of other talented actors. The film follows the life of a washed up oceanographer that is trying to make one more great documentary. The film takes a witty look at the world of the sea explorer (copping many traits of another man of the sea, Jacques Cousteau). The first time I watched this movie, it really didn't impress me. However, after a second viewing last weekend, I had a newfound appreciation for the flick. Check it out if you're a fan of any of My. Anderson's previous works (Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums).